Harley Quinn #62 – Elliott Kalan, Writer; Carlos Olivares, Artist; Marissa Louise, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: This current story, which finds Harley split into two versions of herself that both seem…wrong, is one of the most chaotic of the run so far. On one hand, there’s Bat-Quinn, a violent vigilante who is taking out her rage over her breakup on the criminals of Gotham. And on the other, there’s “Brainy Quinn”, Harley’s brain (complete with bright pink skin) trying to hold down the fort on the civilian side. But this issue, their ruse comes unraveled as one disaster after another happens. The truck-themed antihero that Harley has encountered several times makes a media appearance, only to be interrupted by a gun-toting supervillain with a particularly bizarre gimmick and physical deformity. Meanwhile, Brainy winds up being interrogated by a hard-bitten noir detective who happens to be in Black and White due to some sort of strange Gotham incident. The two plots converge in bizarre fashion, as Harley’s status quo continues to be pretty strange even for her.
The Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery #4 – Chris Condon, Writer; Jacob Phillips, Artist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: After three issues of slow-burn tension, things explode in a big way as Ezra Cain gets closer to the truth. The man he was searching for, Karl, contacts Ezra with more information – blowing open the secrets of the Brutal Dark and revealing the attack they’re planning. But before he can give him concrete information, he’s assassinated by the mysterious man with robot legs, leading Ezra on a high-octane chase across New York. This brutal action scene nearly kills Ezra, and with the cops on his tail as he bleeds out, he seeks out some help from a doctor friend before taking the fight back to the mastermind, Huber. From there, things take off as the technology that Ezra has been pursuing is put to work, and the story takes a dramatic shift in genre. The craft here is brilliant, and this type of Detective story with a supernatural twist will likely work even better as a completed case in a few months.
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